Mark Berman: Astros offering Carlos Correa a 5 year/160 million dollar contract

Don’t let the McRib re-injure you on the way out when packing up your stuff!

Yes...in reference to McDonalds bringing the McRib back...of which I’ve never had one nor do I plan to.

 

Olson + Bassitt trade. Olson plays mostly OF. Trade Aledmys Diaz because while solid he can’t be counted on to stay healthy. Gueriel can float around to backup 2B and 3B.
Would you be okay with this infield for 15-20 regular season games next year?
1B: Olson
2B: Altuve
3B: Gurriel
SS: Bregman

This isn’t the same as asking Bregman to move to short full-time. Just asking him to fill in for the occasional spot start.

 

Agreed. Obviously there is a big difference between mlb and AAA, but Pena had 10 HR's in 122 at bats in AAA ball. If he's able to hit mlb pitching it seems like he should be good for 20+ a year.

 

I prefer to think of it as changing his role rather than reducing it. He is a full time catcher now. I would like to think that he begins to become a player coach, then a coach player, and eventually just a coach.

 

I'd probably keep Diaz so Bregman has less time at SS. Diaz gets hurt, can still roll with Bregman or Leon backing up SS. With getting Verlander, I think getting Bassitt would be tough to fit and still getting an OF.

C MM
Backup Catcher Castro
1B Olson
2B Altuve
3B Bregman
SS Pena
Utility Gurriel
Utility Diaz
CF Marte
RF Tucker
LF Brantley
DH Alvarez
4th OF Chas

Rotation: Verlander, LMJ, Framber, Urquidy, Garcia, and Javier (swings to relief for off days)
Bullpen: Pressly, Maton, Stanek, Dubin, Taylor, James, and Baez

Odorizzi traded for some baseballs to move some salary. Montero not tendered or traded.

Edit: If Meyers gets healthy, Chas would be traded with Brantley sliding to "4th OF" (or the other way around) to make room for Meyers, with Brantley (or Chas) though still getting 400-500 plate appearances or so.

 

It’s not happening. Maldonado is a big part of the recent success of Astros’ young pitchers, especially those from Latin America. His arm is also elite and he rivals Molina in that regard.

 

Just stop with the Matt Olson trade ideas. The Astros are not moving Gold Glove winner and reigning batting champion, Yuli Gurriel, off first base to make him a utility player.

 

The Astros are not going to live in the past accomplishments for what they do going forward. Whether it is 2022 or 2023, at some point father time will catch up to Gurriel.

 

The Astros might have a new 1B in 2023, depending on Yuli’s performance in 2022. They will not move Gurriel off first base heading into this season. He won both the Gold Glove and batting title in 2021 and happens to be the best in baseball at picking throws in the dirt from his infielders.

Unless the plan is to have Alvarez and Olson split DH/LF duties and trade Brantley to another team, I don’t see Matt Olson becoming an Astro right now.

 

Gurriel is 38 and looked lost in 2020. He’ll be a FA after 2022. He could regress, but I highly expect him to go to TOR to play with his brother. We don’t have an obvious successor in the farm. Good teams look to the present, the best also look ahead. Olson is an elite bat who finished Top 10 in the MVP voting. If you have the chance to add someone like that you at least look into it. Anyway I personally did not suggest kicking Gurriel of 1st, I suggested trade for him to play OF and then move him back to 1B in 2023. He’s also my proposed solution to address our lack of HR power beyond Altuve/Tucker/Alvarez. I’ve said numerous times I’d like to see more power added.

But, if the Astros opt to move to a “small ball” identity with low power but emphasizing OBP and speed then so be it.

 

The Astros will be plucking from the AAA, just not from the Oakland AAAs

 

With all of these international signings suspect to being older than they listed.... I wonder if Yuli is actually younger

 

The plan would be that someone gets hurt such that Alvarez, Olson, and Gurriel are playing almost every day or it is one them that is hurt. If everyone is healthy, Brantley and Gurriel still play about as much as they did last season by Olson bouncing between 1B, LF, DH, and RF. For 12 million in salary, I don't see anyone readily available that improves the Astros as much as Olson, but it is unlikely to acquire him because it will cost a lot in prospects.

If it makes you feel better, call Olson the utility man.

 

Gurriel’s numbers significantly declined in September/October of the shortened season because he was trying to play through some sort of hand/wrist injury.

Matt Olson has not played a game in the outfield since the 2017 season. He is not a viable option to man a corner spot, especially if the Astros are losing Correa’s defense up the middle.

 

He’s still played more innings in an MLB outfield than all of us combined. Plus he’s a smart player, I’m sure he won’t be a disaster.

 

This all makes sense.

I think they still need a everyday shortstop even if it’s not an elite/expensive one. I don’t think Diaz is an everyday shortstop and it’s not clear Pena is ready quite yet. CF is less a question mark in that they have two potential everyday players even if they aren’t elite. If they spend on Marte, they are making a big bet on Pena or they’ll likely need to use some outfield depth to trade for bullpen/infield depth.

 

I know he wants Lindor money, but I’m just not sure it’s out there right now.

 

Would the Astros do something like 8yrs 275 with player options the last 3 years? Would Correa accept something like that?